Abstract
The block sorting problem is the problem of minimizing the number of steps to sort a list of distinct items, where a sublist of items which are already in sorted order, called a block, can be moved in one step. We give an approximation algorithm for the block sorting problem with an approximation ratio of 2 and run time O ( n 2 ) . The approximation algorithm is based on the related concept of block deletion. We show that finding an optimum block deletion sequence can be done in O ( n 2 ) time, even though block sorting is known to be N P -hard. Block sorting has importance in connection with optical character recognition (OCR) and is related to transposition sorting in computational biology.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
